


Hide & Seek

by dcharmaine



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Human, Catfish AU, Derek Hale & Jordan Parrish Bromance, F/M, Happy Derek Hale, Mentions of Draeden
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-26 13:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dcharmaine/pseuds/dcharmaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Best friends Lydia Martin and Jordan Parrish have dedicated their careers to helping people find love and the truth in their online relationships, but what happens when they can’t face the truth themselves?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. INTRO

**_TWO YEARS AGO_ **

 

_“Lydia!” Jordan burst into Lydia’s room one cold winter night and jumped onto her bed. “Lydia wake up!” He shook his best friend’s shoulders._

_“Go away,” she groaned. He knew she hated it when she was woken up too soon. It hadn’t even been two hours since she turned in, and she was sleeping so well. That is, until her momentarily obnoxious roommate decided to wake her out of it. She covered her ears but could still hear a muffled voice trying to gain her attention._

_“Lyyyydiiiiaaaaaa!” Jordan bounced all his weight on the bed until finally Lydia gave up on trying to ignore him._

_“You have five seconds.” Her ears were no longer hidden away, eyes still closed, and lips turned into the biggest frown she could form. Somehow she had to show Jordan he had crossed the line._

_“We’re going to be on TV, Lydia.” He settled next to her, lying flat on his back underneath her blanket. “I just know it.” Lydia’s eyes shot open when she finally realized what he was referring to. “MTV e-mailed us. They’ve been trying to reach us, and they want to meet this week.”_

_Lydia looked over at Jordan. He was beaming. “I know, Jordan. I know.” For an entire month Lydia had been deliberately ignoring the calls. She’d gone so far as to block the phone number from MTV Headquarters on their business line. Jordan was never supposed to find out._

_There wasn’t much the two of them didn’t do together. They were pretty inseparable since they met a year prior, so when Lydia came up with the idea of fixing failed online relationships for a living Jordan didn’t hesitate to join her. Besides, even if they didn’t unite the couples at least Jordan and Lydia could travel the world together. It was an adventure all on its own! Seeing new places and meeting new people, it was all pretty amazing for Jordan. The job, simply put, was to ensure clients were able to make contact with their partners in real life. Whatever it took, they were ready to make it happen. The media caught on to their story, and suddenly everybody knew the names Lydia Martin and Jordan Parrish. All of New York City recognized them wherever they went. That’s when MTV decided they needed to snag this duo before any other broadcasting network had the chance to._

_“This is going to be amazing!” Slowly Jordan’s eyes roamed over Lydia’s face. “You’re not excited?” His voice suddenly less upbeat than it had been. She stayed silent. “Or happy at least?”_

_“Nope.” She propped herself up on her elbow. “Have you ever thought about **why** they’re interested in us? All they’ll do is exploit this company to the poisonous Hollywood culture, and the next thing I’ll know is that my business isn’t my own anymore.” Lydia shook her head. “They’re going to ruin us, Jordan.”_

_“Look at it this way,” he ran his finger lightly across her arm, drawing patterns with his fingertip. “The exposure will be good for business, and it’s only one meeting. You can still say no if you don’t like what they have to say. Let’s just see where it goes.”_

_“I hate it when you’re right, you know.” She gazed down at him._

_“And I love knowing it gets to you.”_

_Later that week, Lydia and Jordan found themselves sitting in a conference room with the CEO of MTV and the crew who would potentially be in charge of the production of Catfish. Phil, the CEO, introduced each of the men. The bearded one who would be the executive producer, Derek Hale, began to speak. “We have some great ideas…” Lydia zoned out. That was all she needed to hear. **They** had ideas, and **they** would try to take over Catfish as if **they** were the ones who built the company up from nothing. Everything she and Jordan had done to get business off the ground… It was all done from scratch. The advertising, the planning, the sacrifices they made just to make their business plan work—she wasn’t about to let it all have been for nothing. She couldn’t tolerate the idea of her business being turned into just another laughable failed show on television. Even if it didn’t fail, would she really be happy with what it turned into?_

_“Pay attention, Lydia!” Jordan whispered next to him as she played with her fingernails._

_“Is something wrong?” Phil’s face was calm and his voice stern._

_“Sorry,” Lydia stood to her feet and planted her hands onto the table. “I’m just not interested in handing over the rights of my company to you.” She shook her head. “I think we’re done here, gentlemen.” As she turned to leave Jordan grabbed her hand._

_“We haven’t even been here ten minutes.” Jordan gestured for Lydia to sit back down. “Please?”_

_She’d give Jordan a piece of her mind later, but she knew he was right. Lydia had to let them propose their offer before declining. Lydia sat and nodded, signaling that she was ready to actually listen._

_“We don’t want you to change what you’re doing, Ms. Martin.” Derek stared at her and paused, trying to think of something Lydia might actually approve of. “We just want to… enhance it.”_

_“And make a profit off of it.” Lydia laughed dryly. Jordan threw his head back. Lydia was stubborn, he’d give her that. Somewhere in the back of his mind Jordan should’ve known that Lydia would never genuinely be open to the idea of sharing Catfish with an outside source._

_“Well, yes.” Phil didn’t deny it. Honestly all he saw looking at the duo in front of him was dollar signs. These two would be good business for MTV. That’s all he knew. Little did he know, Lydia Martin didn’t believe in settling for less. “You get 10% of the profits. It’s a good opportunity, adding MTV to your resume. I would take the deal if I were you.”_

_“Oh no,” Jordan whispered to himself. 10% would never be good enough for Lydia, How could Phil expect her to just bite her tongue and obey his suggestion?_

_“That’s not going to cut it, Phil.” His name was suddenly like venom to Lydia’s tongue. “You’re wrong for that, and you know it. Ooh, brilliant idea! Why don’t **you** take that measly 10% and give us our 90?” She narrowed her eyes as he called her bluff, laughing in her face. No way would she pass up an opportunity to work with his team._

_“Look, sweetheart.” Phil shook his head at this preposterous comeback. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to be on tv.”_

_“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we don’t need the deal, huh? We’ve already gained all the coverage we needed from all those reports. The media does wonders. Business is blooming.” Her grin was smug. “How bad would it look for you blowing this deal?”_

_“Okay, Martin.” Phil’s smile dropped. “Do you have a better plan than we could possibly come up with?”_

_“I’m pretty sure I could do a lot better than anything you planned to sell me.” Lydia stood up and walked around the table to where Derek was. “I like him.” She glanced over at him. “He has a trustworthy face, so here’s the deal. He will coordinate with us. You don’t get your hands anywhere near Catfish, Phil. We generate your revenue while you provide us with more resources to do just what we’ve been doing. All suggestions come from—“ Lydia forgot his name._

_“Derek,” he quietly filled in the blank for her._

_“Right, Derek.” Lydia linked her arm with his muscular one, looking around the room. “All decisions must be approved by myself or my partner. Get some ladies up to speed. I refuse to work with all men. And finally, best of all, we get half.”_

_Phil choked on the sincerity of Lydia’s conditions. “I am not giving you half!” He raised his voice. “If that’s the game you’re playing you can get it out of your head right now!”_

_“How badly do you need this deal, Phil?” Lydia walked away from the producer she assumed Jordan would soon befriend. Phil remained silent. He had future deals depending on his ability to sign Catfish. “That’s what I thought. Half, or we walk.”_

_Phil surrendered. “Fine. Half. You’ll have your new contracts by the end of the week.” Phil tore the papers in front of him, the ones stating his original guidelines of how Catfish: The TV Show would be handled. His contract was now void._

_Lydia smiled as she made her way back to her seat. She turned to Jordan. “You were right. This is going to be great.” She heard Phil mumbling to himself, complaining. “Oh, and Sweetheart?” He looked up. “Don’t call me Sweetheart again.” Lydia tilted her head. “You won’t recognize anything particularly sweet about me.” He already knew it. She had just took millions away from him quicker than any agent he had ever encountered._

_All Jordan could do was laugh. “What changed your mind?”_

_“Well, someone had to put Phil in his place.” Lydia checked the time on her phone. 12:45 pm. “Besides, I promised you an adventure when you agreed to be my business partner. I don’t plan on breaking that promise.” She shrugged. “Lunch on me?” Jordan nodded, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair as they headed out._

_“Hey, wait up!” Derek ran after them as they navigated the confusing halls of MTV Headquarters. Finally he caught up to Lydia and Jordan. “That was a big risk you pulled back there, Ms. Martin.”_

_“It’s Lydia.” Her gaze stuck ahead of her. “And I didn’t know what I was doing, to be honest. All I knew was that he would either say yes or no, and that he wouldn’t con me out of the money that rightfully belongs to us.”_

_“Well my job definitely depended on you saying yes.” Derek ran his hand through his hair. “So uh, thanks for calling the right bluff I guess.” He smiled at his new colleagues. “See you guys next week!”_


	2. Sammy & Max

Lydia Martin. Brilliant and beautiful as she might be, she never considered _love_ a quality she might someday yearn to experience in her life. In fact, she hated the idea of somebody ever having such a strong hold over her heart. Whatever it took, Lydia would avoid the rush she might get when somebody came close enough that she might fall for him or that he might break through her defenses. Instead she, along with her best friend, travelled the world making sure everybody else had that happy ending she’d spent her life trying to avoid.

“Hey Lydia!” Jordan Parrish called out to her as he flipped through a manila folder on the couch of their cozy living room. “We have another case file! It looks like we’re headed to the sunshine state! Miami.” Jordan chuckled to himself, reading the letter attached to the file. All of their cases sounded the same, which was weird considering how long they’d been in the business. Lydia made her way over to the back of the couch and read the note, leaning over Jordan’s shoulder.

**_Dear Lydia and Jordan,_ **

**_I’ve been talking to Max for two years now, and I didn’t expect to fall for him but I did. He says he wants to meet, but every time we try something goes wrong. Whether he has to work that day or his car breaks down, I’m tired of the excuses and the obstacles in our way. Please, you have to help me. Nobody’s ever made me feel this way before and I can’t do this without you._ **

**_Sammy._ **

“Well I guess we leave in the morning then.” Lydia reached her arm over Jordan, grabbing the plane tickets Derek included in the file. She nodded pressing her glossy lips together. Jordan’s clock, the one Lydia hated because it sounded an alarm every hour, blared through the living room signaling eleven pm. She rolled her eyes, wishing Jordan would just get rid of the thing. It was loud, annoying, and always woke her when she napped on the couch. “I’ll make our reservations. You go get some sleep. I won’t have you making us late for the plane again.”

“One time!” Jordan threw his hands in the air in defense. “It only happened once, Lyds.” He was right. It did only happen once, but they were so delayed that they almost weren’t even allowed onto the plane. The way Lydia saw it, Jordan needed a bedtime the night before catching a flight and Lydia wouldn’t let him sleep in at all. Jordan would definitely try to sleep in. She could just feel it already.

As promised, she logged online and scheduled their hotel reservations. Lydia loved Jordan dearly, but she just couldn’t share a room with him for two weeks straight. She reserved two rooms, hoping they were adjoining again so that she didn’t actually have to leave her room to get to his. Lydia turned off the desktop and lights, then jogged up the stairs. In her bedroom she tried and failed to sleep. Those branches Jordan always forgot to trim were scratching against the window nonstop again. “Just perfect,” she groaned and marched off to Jordan’s bedroom. Lydia slowly opened the door trying not to wake him, but he was still awake and hadn’t even attempted to sleep yet. Jordan was sitting in front of his dresser trying to figure out what he wanted to wear for the next two weeks. Lydia sighed loudly as she closed the door so Jordan would know he did something wrong.

“What now?” he chuckled mainly to himself. He dropped the shirts he’d been holding back into the drawer and stood up waiting for the lecture he was sure he was about to receive. “Okay. Lay it on me.” Jordan crossed his arms, bracing himself. Lydia always had _some_ remark when he did something wrong.

Lydia simply brushed by him, her arm grazing his. “I’m taking over your bed tonight.” She grinned collapsing at the center of his bed. Lydia stared up at the ceiling while she told Jordan about their flight plans. He was just relieved she finally chose a time that would let him sleep for more than just six hours. Lydia could hear Jordan rummaging through all of his clothes, still indecisive about what to take with him. She laughed. Did he always take so long to pack his bags? Yup. Pretty much, he did. Lydia decided to just pack his bag for him. If she didn’t he never would have gone to sleep. She couldn’t risk missing the flight. Lydia went back and forth between Jordan’s dresser and closet, filling his suitcase in less than five minutes, leaving Jordan astonished. He’d been at that for an hour.

“Come on,” Lydia held her hand out to help Jordan to his feet. “Bed time.”

“Fine,” Jordan accepted her hand. “But only because I’m actually tired.” He guided Lydia to his bed a few feet ahead. Each taking their usual sides of the mattress—Lydia on the left and Jordan on the right. It was becoming a regular event for Jordan to share his bed with Lydia. There was always some reason why she couldn’t sleep in her own room. He didn’t mind though. They were best friends! The relationship was completely platonic, so why should it matter? What a surprise these two would have coming their way if they weren’t careful.

**********

“Wake up, Jordan.” Lydia shook her friend, who had been resting on her shoulder throughout the flight to Florida. “We’re here!” Lydia gathered the pages of Sammy’s case file back into the folder her producer delivered the night prior. She couldn’t wait to get outside. They loved having cases in warmer states. It was so much better than the chilly weather of New York. The plane landed and the duo rushed through the busy crowds of the airport.

Jordan rented a car for them and before they knew it, they had already arrived to their hotel. They had adjoining rooms reserved according to the confirmation email Lydia received on the plane, not that it would matter much to them. Jordan and Lydia made quite the team, those two. Lydia already knew she probably wouldn’t spend much time in her own room. That was always the case whether they were back at home or out of town. Somehow they had a way of intruding on, what should have been, each other’s privacy. It was uncanny the way it always seemed to happen.

“What do you mean one?” Lydia stressed over the hotel’s reception desk. “I reserved _two_ rooms!” She dropped her head into her hands. Sure, she and Jordan spent all their time together anyway but even they needed time alone sometimes.

“My apologies, Miss,” the clerk sounded tired. “We only have one room available at this time. Computers glitch, you know? There’s nothing we can do about getting you an extra room right now.” She paused, glancing between Lydia and Jordan. “Or bed.” She stifled a giggle, sure that the beautiful couple would find a way to make use of their predicament. Everybody always seemed to assume Lydia and Jordan were a couple. Neither of them could ever understand why. They’d just laugh it off.

“That’s just perfect,” Lydia threw her head back giggling about their weird luck. “Well I guess you’ll be glued to my side the next couple of weeks,” she turned to Jordan. “How will you survive?” She swept a patch of her red hair out of her face with her index finger.

“Eh,” Jordan shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing we haven’t done a million times before. We’re good.” He looked up at the clerk, flashing her an apologetic smile for Lydia being cranky about the sleeping arrangements. He accepted the room key the clerk held out for them, thanked her, and grabbed Lydia’s hand. “Come on,” he pulled her to the elevator. The ride up to the third floor was silent, probably because the camera crew had been filming them the whole time waiting for drama they could edit into the show. Jordan always got a weird vibe from those guys. It was as if they were collecting evidence, or something of the nature, to use against them or to show off to some secret source he wasn’t aware of. Jordan just shook the idea out of his head, convinced he was just being paranoid. Why would they need extra footage? It made no sense. The elevator doors opened and everyone piled out of the small space. More than usual, the cameras were in Lydia’s and Jordan’s faces. More persistent, even. Lydia and Jordan glanced at each other, walking faster than before to get away from them.

Once in the safety of their room, Jordan slammed the door before the crew could get in. Lydia simply laughed it off. Something about what had just happened made her nervous to go back out there later on. She sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at her clasped hands.

“Okay, I’ll give.” Jordan had been watching her intently. “Why are you so tense?” The bed shook as he sat next to his distracted friend.

“Nothing,” she lied. Lydia felt a knot growing in her stomach. Although she didn’t know exactly what it was, something was going to go wrong for her on this assignment. “I’m fine.” In no way did Jordan believe her, but he let it go anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia and Jordan begin investigating Max.

“Oh my God! It’s you! ” A brunette ran outside to Lydia and Jordan, blatantly excited to meet them. The entire day she tried to work on staying calm, but it didn’t exactly work. “I’m sorry,” she hid her face in her hands laughing nervously. “I swore I wouldn’t freak out when you got here, but… Let’s face it. I’m always going to be a fangirl. This is amazing!” She flipped her hair back revealing pink cheeks which obviously weren’t the product of makeup.

“Nice to meet you officially, Sammy.” Lydia laughed. She could never quite get over the excitement in the eyes of Catfish fans when they met her or Jordan. It was a reminder to her that agreeing to work with MTV wasn’t exactly a bad thing because she and Jordan were reaching more people than they ever could have on their own. They’d helped thousands of people already and Lydia couldn’t imagine ever stopping. It felt amazing. “Shall we?” She gestured to Sammy’s big red house. The camera crew followed as Sammy led everyone inside to the living room. Lydia and Jordan made themselves comfortable on the couch, while Sammy took her recliner.

“So,” Jordan’s small camera focused on Sammy. Before the MTV deal, he always recorded during the cases Catfish took on. He and Lydia liked to look back at the tapes and see how much of a difference they’d made in people’s lives. Although there was a professional camera crew now he didn’t want to stop. At least he knew that footage he took himself was his own and didn’t have to be overtaken by the network. “Tell us more about Max.”

“We met on tumblr,” Sammy laughed. “It all happened so naturally. I found his blog hunting endlessly for good gifsets of all my favorite shows. His blog kept popping up in my search, so I followed him. The next day I saw a notification on my phone that he liked a picture from my selfie tag and the rest is history.” For the first time she smiled and it wasn’t because the Catfish crew was sitting there with her. “But he lives in Los Angeles. He moved there from Arizona after his brother died.

“How?” Jordan heard it a thousand times before. In these initial sit-downs, clients often mentioned that either they or their partner lost someone close to them. Jordan was so sure that usually it’s only mentioned to rope the victim in, to establish some sense of emotional or sympathetic bond. Sometimes he was right. In fact, their last case before this one involved a man who couldn’t find any other way to connect to his victim, so he made up a story for her about his son dying a few weeks prior. Not only did his son not die, but he never had a kid to begin with.

“Um,” Sammy tucked a patch of hair behind her ear. “He said it was a hit and run. Max was pretty torn up about it.” Who wouldn’t be?

“What do you love about this guy? You know?” Lydia was taking note of everything that stuck out to her on her tablet. “What’s your relationship like?”

“He’s really sweet. Max knows just what to say when I get down, and he’ll like, just talk to me and make me laugh until I feel better.” Sammy slowly rubbed her hands together. There’s a lot of balance in our relationship I think. We both make effort to keep it going. No long distance relationship I’ve ever heard of has been easy, so I kind of get wary that it might not work out if we don’t actually meet.”

“And have you tried lately?” Jordan asked the one question Sammy was dreading.

“Yeah, we have.” She hated knowing that she had to contact Catfish in order to get a proper meeting with Max. “We were going to meet up at a Supernatural convention a few months ago. He…didn’t make it.” As usual. “I sat through it wondering where he was and why couldn’t make it. I mean I was in California. I got on a plane and paid for admission into a convention I normally wouldn’t even go to just so I could meet him and he didn’t make it.”

“Video chat?” Jordan tried to at least have an open mind about the possibilities of this case. Surely there was something positive he and Lydia could focus on.

“No.” It was starting to feel less like an interview for Sammy and more like an interrogation. Even though she knew it was routine for them to ask those questions it felt different, like they were waiting for her to say something wrong. “We’ve tried a few times, but his camera doesn’t work. He didn’t get around to buying a webcam or fixing his yet.”

Lydia’s eyes shot up to Sammy. “Didn’t or wouldn’t?” Sammy didn’t answer, just looked down at her hands. “Look, Sammy. I’m not going to lie about this. You need to be prepared for anything.”

“He’s real.” Sammy was confident. “I can feel it in my heart that Max is who he says he is! I just need help bringing him out of the shadows. He’s just nervous. We deserve a happy ending. It’s going to happen. I just know it.”

“Then let’s get you that happy ending.” Lydia grinned over at Sammy. Who was she to discourage the bubbly girl in front of her? Lydia refused to do that to her if she didn’t have proof that Max was a fraud. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t turn over every stone until she proved herself right, though. Just as confidant as Sammy was, Lydia knew Max was going to be proven a villain. “Do you have any pictures of Max?”

Sammy’s smile returned as she flipped through the pictures on her phone and landed on the first decent picture she could find. It wasn’t that they were inappropriate, but more that they didn’t display his facial features well enough. She handed her phone over.

“He’s cute.” A smile spread across Lydia’s face. The picture was of a boy around the same age as Sammy, roughly 19. He was sitting on the beach, smiling, and the sun hitting his tanned skin and black hair. “We’re going to get to work on your case, Sammy.” Lydia nodded, handing the phone back.

“Just email us any extra information you have.” Jordan handed her a card with their business email and number printed on it. MTV might run the show now, but it was still their company. “Pictures, contact info, and anything you didn’t tell us we might need to help the investigation. You’ve seen the show, you know what we’re looking for.”

“Thanks guys.” She breathed, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. Sammy knew with the help of Lydia and Jordan she was sure to meet her true love in the next week and it felt amazing to think about.

The crew headed out back to their vehicles. It was time to figure out who this guy was and why he was driving Sammy in circles with no intention of ever actually meeting her. It was obvious to Lydia and Jordan, but to Sammy? She had enough hope for all of them. Nothing would convince her that she was wasting her time on him.

Later that night Lydia and Jordan settled into a comfortable diner just minutes away from the hotel. After opening Sammy’s email, they visited Max’s tumblr to get some insight on what he was like aside from Sammy’s biased perspective. Max had no form of a tagging system. They couldn’t find anything to see into this guy. He definitely wasn’t making it easy for them to spy on him.

“Keep looking,” Lydia instructed. He nodded, taking their laptop from Lydia’s side of the table. “Obviously this guy isn’t a total ghost. We just have to know where to poke him. While you’re going through tumblr I’m going to search him on facebook.” Lydia had switched to facebook on her tablet, typing in his name. **Max Grayson**. She scrolled through all of the people, male and female, apparently named Max Grayson. Not one of them looked anything like the person in those pictures Sammy sent over. This guy wasn’t a good copycat, if at all. Lydia bit down on her bottom lip. Facebook usually helped their investigations run smoother.

“Dead end?” Jordan chuckled, eying her for the first time since pouring over Max’s scattered blog. He liked when Lydia bit her lip like that. That was her tell. He could always deduce that something was wrong or that she was lying whenever she bit her lip.

“Maybe…” Lydia hated feeling like she wasn’t in control. She needed another solution. “Hey search his picture.” Lydia suddenly remembered the one crucial part of her usual routine that she didn’t actually try. You see, usually the first step in the investigation is to search the person’s picture using google images. Dragging the picture into the search bar will show them every place the picture is located.

“We’ve got a few hits on the third picture!” Jordan tapped his finger against Lydia’s arm, just in front of him. He angled the computer so Lydia could look on with him. “The first two didn’t… really give us anything.”

“The first link is usually the one with the most hits.” Lydia pointed out the obvious, urging Jordan to click on it. “Seeing how they all seem to be tumblr links, it’s not a bad rule.” The picture led them back to a blog, **wavesnfangs** appearing in the address bar as the URL. “Isn’t that the picture she showed us earlier?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Wish you were here bro,” Jordan began reading the caption Max added to the picture. “The waves were always your thing, but I guess I’ll have to just ride them for you. Fly high.”

“That’s… Max’s blog…” She grumbled, drawing Jordan’s attention away from the laptop. Whether Lydia wanted to believe it or not (definitely not), it was starting to seem like Max might have actually been real. On one hand, if Max was not who he claimed to be Sammy would be upset. They didn’t want that. On the other hand, if Max really was the person he claimed there was a legitimate reason why he didn’t want to meet Sammy. That reason would probably devastate her. No matter how Lydia looked at it this would not end well for Sammy. “Keep checking those links. We have no other leads right now, and I need another answer to deliver to Sammy. He’s going to break her heart. I can just feel it.”

“Lydia…” Jordan closed the computer’s lid, the screen powering off 3 seconds later. “Is this really about her? Or is it about you?” He knew Lydia might hate him for asking the question, but he needed to make sure her priorities were in the right place. A girl’s heart was on the line and it seemed that Lydia’s only concern was proving to everybody that Sammy’s partner was nothing more than a fraud. He looked around at the interior setup of the diner. They met in a place that looked just like this one. It was hard to forget. Lydia was in a heated argument with the last seemingly serious boyfriend she had ever had.

“Don’t you dare,” Lydia pressed her lips together. “You know me and you know just as well as I do that I will always separate my private life from this business. Keep looking.”

“Okay,” it had to be done. “No more questions,” he swore to her.

He kept his promise until they were getting ready for bed. Jordan had just gotten out of the shower, put his clothes on, brushed his teeth, and was then joining Lydia in the unreasonably small bed. What hotel really stoops so low as to place only one twin sized bed into such a large room? What, was it meant to be a kid’s room? That was the only thing that made sense as Lydia had to practically lay on top of Jordan in order to get comfortable. She was on her side resting her head on Jordan’s chest, their bodies colliding, his arm draped around her. They didn’t see any other way. This bed was ridiculous, but at least now they knew why that desk attendant made it a point to mention that they couldn’t get another bed. It was by far the most intimate Lydia had ever been with a best friend before. It felt weird, to say the least.

Lydia couldn’t help but listen to Jordan’s steady heartbeat as his question replayed in the back of her mind. She couldn’t sleep, but Jordan was already half asleep. “Do you really believe that?” Lydia spoke, waking Jordan from his in-between state of consciousness. “Do you really think I’d jeopardize a case like that?”

“Sorry,” Jordan stared up at the darkness that would have been the ceiling if he could see it. “I just needed to know is all.”

“But you should know the answer though.” Lydia tried to shake her head against Jordan’s bare chest. “We used to be on the same page, you know. About everything.”

“Yeah.” Jordan couldn’t fathom the idea of being on a side that opposed Lydia’s. She just seemed a little too focused on the possible negative outcomes. Not once did she mention anything good that could come from this investigation. Hope wasn’t exactly a bad thing. “But what if we actually do find out something bad about this guy? Are you really willing to discourage Sammy just because of that one thing, or are you going to stand by her and let her come to her own conclusion? Max seems genuine so far. Can’t we just take it from there?”

“If you really have to ask—“ she was going to say he really didn’t know her at all. Lydia was a professional. That didn’t mean she couldn’t act on a hunch, did it? “Jordan, you either believe in me or you don’t. I know I’m right about this and I need you to have my back whether you agree with my angle or not.” She knew it was a poor choice of words, feeling his arm protectively guarding her from the possibility that she might fall off the bed while she slept.

“Of course I do,” he sighed. Jordan knew the odds of Max being a fraud, but he still needed to believe that something good would come of this. For Sammy. “Always.” Jordan hoped Lydia believed it just as much as it was true. There would never be a scenario where Jordan would not believe in Lydia. He may not have understood where she was coming from if not personal feelings, but he had no intention of abandoning her point of view. Who knew? Jordan had been wrong before. Maybe he was wrong again, or maybe Lydia’s perception was just clouded. Lydia closed her eyes to sleep, though it wasn’t easy. She just let the sound of Jordan’s heart beating be her lullaby.


	4. Chapter 4

The next afternoon, Sammy met up with Lydia and Jordan at a Starbucks coffee shop to discuss the details of their investigation. After their first gathering and knowing that on the show almost everybody turned out to be an imposter, Sammy was nervous for the results they’ve come up with. Somebody had to keep the hope alive though, so that’s what Sammy did. No matter what Lydia or Jordan said, Sammy would stay positive. Max was her true love, and nothing would get in the way of that. At least that was what she was telling herself all night after seeing Lydia’s doubt.

Sammy walked into the shop glancing around the room for Lydia and Jordan when Lydia suddenly appeared next to her. “Sammy, hey.” She tapped Sammy’s arm with a genuine smile painted on her face. Lydia was not as optimistic as Sammy, or even Jordan, but she wouldn’t let it affect Sammy’s expectations of their meeting. “Are you ready?”

“Mhm,” Sammy nodded. Her face told a different story—eyebrows pushed together, lips tightly pressed together, and Lydia could see how wary Sammy was attempting not to be. “Yeah. Of course. Let’s go.” Sammy started walking off, but Lydia pulled her back.

“Take a minute.” Lydia stood in front of Sammy, placing her hands lightly atop Sammy’s shoulders. “Clear your head, okay? If you go into this with any shed of doubt I might’ve given you, it won’t go anywhere. You’ll just grow tense.”

“You found something.” It wasn’t a question. Either Sammy was being paranoid, she thought, or something actually would go wrong. She couldn’t figure out which though. “What is it?” She crossed her arms.

“Nothing.”

“You still don’t believe it’s really Max.” Sammy’s face dropped, her lips twisting into a slight frown.

“Breathe,” Lydia took a step closer. “Don’t let me make you lose hope. You’ve got this.”

“I can’t,” the brunette shook her head.

“Sam,” Lydia bit back a lie. She wanted to make Sammy believe that she was optimistic about Sammy’s odds, but she couldn’t. Never before had she lied to a client, and she wouldn’t start then. “What I think doesn’t matter. It’s about what you make of the evidence and how you feel about Max. Keep your hope alive.” Sammy followed Lydia’s instruction as they made their way to the table where Jordan was setting down three hot beverages. He took it upon himself to order drinks for the three of them. The girls took their seats at the table.

“Oh, there you two are.” He smiled up at his strawberry blonde friend and the brunette accompanying her. “For you,” Jordan handed Lydia a white chocolate mocha and she thanked him. Lydia was more of a latte drinker, but Jordan liked making her experiment with different drinks. She had to keep her options open once in a while, as he told her the first time he handed her something other than a latte. As a tease, he couldn’t help handing off the drink Lydia normally wouldn’t had for herself to Sammy. “I hope you like vanilla lattes.”

“Yeah,” it was Sammy’s go-to espresso whenever she went to Starbucks. “Thank you, Jordan.” She took a sip of the steamy beverage. It tasted twice as delicious knowing she wasn’t the one who paid for it.

Lydia pulled up their case’s progress on the laptop. Knowing just how wary Sammy was getting, she didn’t want to make her wait a minute longer to hear the results of the investigation. “Okay, so when we started our research last night we couldn’t find much of an online presence for Max Grayson.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?” Sammy set her cup down, preparing for the worst while hoping for a good sign.

“No, not exactly.” Lydia didn’t want to drive a wedge between Sammy and her concept of who Max was. Her next words had to be somewhat optimistic or neutral. “It’s just unusual from our other cases. Maybe there’s some piece of the puzzle we haven’t found yet.” Sammy nodded, not agreeing or disagreeing.

“Maybe,” Jordan added. “He might use an alias so that only people who know it can find him. We don’t know him, so that’s a theory we can’t test for ourselves.”

“We did a search on all of the pictures you sent us. The only one that returned any feedback was the initial one you showed us.” Lydia waited for a response from Sammy. It never came, but at least she looked calmer. “It led us back to Max’s blog.”

“Good, so it’s him!” The excitement Sammy had in her eyes the day before had returned. Finally grasping the purpose of Lydia’s advice just a few minutes prior, Sammy perked up.

“Well, that’s for you to decide.” Lydia couldn’t place any more doubt in Sammy’s heart. “But we don’t have evidence to support any other possibility. That’s a good sign.”

“Okay,” Sammy could feel things turning around. She decided she really was just being paranoid because she was nervous. Now that she knew she had no reason to be worried, Sammy was ready for whatever would happen when she finally met Max. “So what’s next?”

“Well,” Jordan cleared his throat. “We did look up Max’s number. It’s registered in his name. The evidence all points to Max being the person you think you have been talking to. And as you can see on this page here, the address associated with the account is actually in LA. This is really good!” He watched Sammy’s smile grow bigger. “Now what we need to figure out is why. Why has he not met up with you? Lydia’s going to work her magic, get him to agree to meet you for real this time, and we’ll get you your answers.” Lydia took that as her cue to head outside and make the call to the number Sammy gave her.

“Hello?” A deep voice called over the speaker of Lydia’s iPhone after the third ring.

“Am I speaking to Max?” Still hesitant, she felt her heart drop when he responded with a quick yes. No way would she mess this up for Sammy. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of me, but my name is Lydia. Lydia Martin?” He remained silent. “I host a show on MTV called Catfish, and I’m here with Sammy. She asked us to help you guys meet officially and we’d like to make that happen!”

“Right, Sammy.” He let out a low chuckle. “I’m sorry you wasted your time Miss Martin.” The line died just like that.

“Nobody hangs up on Lydia Martin,” she redialed his number.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, Max. It’s me again.” Lydia bit down on her lip, trying to keep calm. “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt in the back of my mind and say you didn’t actually mean to hang up on me. It was an accident. Forgive and forget, I guess.” She shook her head. Her words flowing straight from her brain to her lips. She’d been talking to catfishes for so long it was starting to become a routine speech. “Listen, Sammy’s put a lot of effort into this relationship. This girl is the sweetest thing in the world and she cares about you. Now—“

“Listen, Lydia. I’ve seen your show plenty of times. It’s not worth me showing up for. Now I’ve got work to do.”

“Don’t you dare hang up the phone, Max.” She was getting impatient. Derek silently, with a huge grin on his face, instructed Malcolm to zoom in on Lydia’s irritated face. What could he say? Drama makes for good television!

“What is it?” Max was growing annoyed as well. “I have to get back to work.”

“Do you care about Sammy at all?” Lydia listened to Max’s hesitation. “You know what, don’t answer that. Two years is a long time to think you have romantic feelings for someone. What I’m not understanding here is why you are so closed off. This girl is ready to meet you. She deserves answers. I’m determined to get them for her. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Give her just 15 minutes of your time this weekend. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Okay.” Max paused, but something didn’t seem right. It was easier than Lydia expected. He was entirely too casual. “I’ll text you the address if you promise to stop calling me.”

“Fine.” Lydia couldn’t shake that feeling. “But don’t disappoint her. Again. Just show up.” Max ended the call, but Lydia let it slide that time because she got what she wanted. She was pretty sure of it, anyway.

Walking back into the shop, she couldn’t help but think of all the possible things that could go wrong the next day. What was it about this catfish that she hated so much?

“Are you okay?” Jordan met her halfway. She was obviously distracted. “What happened?” He grabbed Lydia’s hand, pulling her to her seat.

“Um, we leave tonight.” Lydia forced a smile. “If you’re ready, Sammy.”

“Yes!” She beamed. “I can’t believe it’s finally time I get to meet Max!” Sammy relaxed into her seat while Lydia tensed in hers. Jordan had never seen Lydia act like that during a case. He’d have to talk to her about it later. Neither of them wanted to discourage Sammy.


	5. Chapter 5

“No, you don’t understand!” Lydia couldn’t put the feeling into words, but she wasn’t particularly trusting of Max or his intentions. She wanted to protect Sammy from any possibility that she may get hurt the next day. “Something is really wrong.” She threw clothes into her suitcase from the dresser. Lydia hated living out of a suitcase, and she hated it even more that cameras had been following her around every time she turned around for the last year. She wanted her own private life back. She’d never regret her career choice, but she needed a break. Was it the reason she was so tense about this case in particular? Definitely not.

“Lydia we’ve already been through this.” Jordan sighed. “Nothing exactly points to Max being a bad guy.” He blocked Lydia from her suitcase on the bed. “We came to that conclusion together, right? I mean I thought we did and you seemed a little more objective this morning.”

“No, you did.” She tried to walk around Jordan, but his arms caught her before she had the chance. His hands rested on both sides of Lydia’s waist until he realized just how low they actually were. She didn’t seem to notice or care, but Jordan quickly removed his hands.

“Can you please just stop and talk to me?” Lydia tossed her garments onto the bed and crossed her arms. “Thank you,” Jordan smiled down at her. He loved Lydia, but sometimes Jordan didn’t understand her when she became so passionate about the idea of something that only she understood. He was missing something, and he needed to understand it in order to know what was going through her mind. “Now, start over. Why don’t you trust him?”

“I don’t know,” Lydia groaned. “There’s just something about him.”

“You haven’t even met him, Lydia.”

“Exactly!” She threw her hands up into the air. “I haven’t even met him yet and I already have this instinct not to trust him. This has never happened before, which should be discouragement enough.”

“Let’s say you’re right.” Jordan couldn’t believe the words just left his lips. “What do you propose we do? It’s not like we can just drop the case.”

“Whatever we have to do to protect Sammy from her own feelings?” It wasn’t common for Lydia not to have a plan. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to see her get hurt. She’s just so…” Lydia couldn’t find the word she was looking for. Jordan knew exactly how Lydia felt because he agreed.

“Pure,” he grinned. “She’s genuinely optimistic about the idea of love. I can see why that scares you.”

“Don’t do this again,” the strawberry blonde walked around him. Lydia knew what he was referring to. “This case is not about Todd. It’s about Max!” Todd was a touchy subject for Lydia. She hated having to think about him and the worthless excuse of a man he was.

“I’m sorry, Lydia, okay? I’m just saying. Something must’ve seemed familiar about this case.”

“You’re sorry?” Lydia scoffed. “Didn’t you just say last night that you believed in me? I’m missing the part where you have faith in my ability to stay professional. Apparently it doesn’t exist.”

“Lydia I—“

Lydia walked to the front door. “I’m taking a walk.” She closed the door behind her.

“Great job, Jordan,” he whispered under his breath. “Just couldn’t let it go, could you?”

Lydia didn’t actually take a walk. She just went downstairs to the lounge area of the lobby and sat on the couch. Scrolling through her contacts, she wanted to text someone to take her mind off anything Jordan could possibly say about some correlation between her former relationship with Todd and the relationship actually in question. She landed on Jordan’s number and realized he was the only person she actually wanted to talk to in that moment. Lydia was just too proud to admit that she may have slightly overreacted. _Maybe he was right_ , Lydia thought. Jordan knew her better than anyone else did. It wasn’t the most comforting thought, but she was actually glad that he knew her well enough to challenge her when she was wrong.

Suddenly Jordan was leaving the elevator facing Lydia’s couch with the same disappointed face he wore when he hit Todd the last time Lydia saw him. “I really am sorry,” Jordan sat next to Lydia.

“Continue.” Lydia wanted to say that she was sorry too, for overreacting. Had she not been so stubborn by nature, she would’ve. As long as he didn’t take their disagreement too hard, she wouldn’t admit such a thing.

“I just always say something really stupid.” Jordan took Lydia’s hand. Somehow he’d been doing that a lot lately. “It was insensitive of me to insinuate that you have unresolved feelings effecting this case. I’ve just never seen you so wound up over a case and I don’t want you or Sammy caught up over the outcome.”

“Jordan…” She gave up.

“I thought I was just looking out for you, but I can see now that I was wrong.” His eyes dropped down to the floor. Jordan never thought he’d be so protective of his best friend that somehow he just upset her in the process. It felt strange.

“Jordan, listen up because it only happens once.” Lydia held her breath and forced out what she swore she wouldn’t say. “You were right and I was wrong.” Jordan’s eyes shot up at her. When Lydia was right, she was right. But when she was wrong? The words tasted bitter coming out of her mouth. She made it a point to never be wrong, but somehow she broke that rule. Lydia could see the confusion plastered all over Jordan’s face. “Sammy’s a lot like I was. She’s sweet, charismatic, and exploding with hope and trust. I just don’t want to see her get hurt the way I did. But Jordan, that doesn’t mean I was wrong about Max. Something really is off about him. I don’t know what it is, but he’s not the guy I would envision for Sammy.”

“One step at a time, right?” Jordan squeezed Lydia’s hand, smiles forming on both their faces. “Come on, we’re going to miss the flight if we don’t hurry. The two went upstairs, hand in hand, only to find Derek waiting at the door for them.

“Oh good!” Derek nodded. “You’ve made up already!” Lydia and Jordan looked at each other. What was Derek doing? “I was voted mediator amongst—well, everybody.”

“Just a misunderstanding,” Lydia insisted.

“Misunderstandings don’t make you slam the door, Lydia.” Derek couldn’t believe she tried to dissuade him with that generic line. “Anyway, you two are good now. We leave for the airport in 20!” Derek—did he just wink at them? Oh boy. This was going to be interesting if Derek kept at it. “You two would make an amazing couple, by the way.” Derek snickered glancing down at Lydia and Jordan’s connected hands. They looked down to see what he was looking at. Jordan’s thumb had been rubbing against Lydia’s hand. Having forgotten about the fact that they were holding hands, Lydia and Jordan each snatched their hands away. Mockingly, Derek laughed aloud before walking away. Jordan looked down at Lydia, and when he noticed her turning to look up at him, he snapped his gaze away. She saw it and couldn’t help thinking how weird it was. I mean, why were they letting Derek get into their heads? They were just best friends. Everybody knew that, right?


	6. Chapter 6

“Come on, Lydia!” Jordan was ready to leave before Lydia was for the first time ever. “Sammy’s waiting on us!” They were supposed to be on their way to meet up with Max at his house.

“You should’ve thought about that before taking an hour to stare at your hair!” Lydia teased.

Sammy was so nervous and excited about the event finally taking place that she decided she would just go get Lydia and Jordan from their hotel room instead of waiting for them to get to hers. She was pacing around the room when she noticed there was only one bed. “Wait,” she grinned. “Are you guys…”

“What?” Jordan was confused. Sammy gestured to the only bed in the center of the room. “Oh, yeah. These hotels keep getting our reservations mixed up.” Jordan shook his head. “Somebody has a weird sense of humor, apparently.”

“No…” Sammy couldn’t believe a word Jordan had just said. “You’re totally hooking up!” She clapped her hands together, cheerful.

“What?” he laughed. “No, I swear. Just friends.” With his left hand, Jordan stroked his brown hair.

“What’s so funny out here?” Lydia leaned against the bathroom’s door frame. “I want to laugh too!” She made her way to Jordan’s left side, her hand resting on top of his shoulder. Sammy’s eyes watched intently as Lydia’s hand rubbed against Jordan. It was almost as if it was actually an intimate event and she was witnessing it first-hand.

“Nothing worth repeating,” he chuckled. His gaze lingered on Sammy knowing she would give up her ridiculous notion. “Let’s go.”

“Mmmhm,” Sammy was bubbly about knowing something she didn’t think she was supposed to know. She was pretty certain that Lydia and Jordan were hiding that they were romantically involved. Honestly? Everybody was convinced there was something happening between them. She glided right around Lydia and Jordan almost forgetting the real reason she was excited, which wasn’t that her one live ship was probably a thing. Somehow Sammy had to direct her attention back to what she would say to Max twenty minutes from that moment. Jordan simply couldn’t wrap his head around Derek and Sammy being weird about his platonic relationship with Lydia.

Stopping the car in an empty driveway, Lydia suggested Sammy stay in the car while she knocked on the door. Sammy didn’t think anything of it, just prepared herself for the epic union that was surely about to take place.

“You better not upset her Max,” Lydia whispered under her breath as she headed to the black wooden door. “Okay, this is it.” Lydia rang the doorbell and stepped back. No answer. She rang the doorbell again, the door slowly opening.

“Who are you?” An elderly woman answered the door. Her face was stiff, and Lydia was hesitant to even ask.

“Hello,” she smiled up at the woman. “I’m looking for Max.”

“There’s no one here by that name.” She glared down at Lydia.

“Are you sure? Max Grayson is his name.”

“Look, kid.” The woman sighed, staring straight into the camera behind Lydia. “Nobody lives around here with that name. Knock on as many doors as you want. Unless he’s an old dog like the rest of us, you won’t find him here.” The woman closed the door before Lydia could say anything else.

Turning back toward the car, Lydia texted Max. **Where are you?**

All there was left to do was break the news to Sammy and go back to the hotel until Lydia heard back from Max. Lydia’s attention stayed on her phone, so sure that if she looked away she would miss Max’s response. She opened her door and settled into the seat. When she looked up, both Sammy and Jordan were staring at her. Sammy was still optimistically awaiting Lydia’s announcement, but Jordan knew something was wrong. “So?” Sammy grabbed onto Lydia’s arm. “When do I meet Max? Now?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Let’s go!” Sammy grabbed onto the door handle.

“Sammy,” Lydia panicked. How could she possibly do anything to disappoint this girl? Max had already done it enough. “Max isn’t coming out.”

“So we go inside then.” Sammy wasn’t grasping the purpose of Lydia’s discomfort.

“We can’t do that either.” She had to remind herself not to be so vague. “Sammy… Max isn’t here. He’s not coming.”

“What?” Sammy’s smile dropped. “That can’t be true. He said he’d be here, right?”

“Maybe he sent the wrong address.” Lydia watched as Sammy’s eyes began to water. She’d have to remember to kill Max when she finally tracked him down. “By accident!”

“It’s just… What if he doesn’t actually want to meet me? He’s done this too many times for it to be coincidental that he hasn’t shown up!”

Lydia pulled out of the driveway hoping Max would just call her and make it right with Sammy. She was ready to throw everything she’d thought of him away if it just meant that he would be worth the confusion. He wasn’t though. Not from where Lydia was sitting, which to be precise was next to a sniffling Sammy.

“Am I being dramatic?” Sammy wiped a fresh tear away and looked over at Lydia.

“No.” Jordan scrunched his eyebrows together. “You’re not. But I swear to you, we will track him down.” Sammy nodded, failing to find her happy face. It was then that he realized maybe Lydia was actually right not to trust Max. So many times she’d told him that she could just feel it, but he disagreed. All he wanted was to believe Sammy could get that happy ending with Max. Jordan definitely didn’t plan on taking opposite stances from Lydia’s again. It could probably save some heartache in the long run.

As soon as they returned to the hotel, Lydia rushed back to her and Jordan’s room. She needed to find answers for Sammy. Powering on the laptop was the effortless part. Now she had to pinpoint Max’s location. With the income MTV had generated for Catfish, she’d gained the resources she needed to create an efficient cellular tracking program. Lydia had been trying to perfect it for months, but it never seemed to work out. This time was different. She was going to lock herself inside the room, sit at the laptop, and figure out how to make her software work. This was for Sammy.


	7. Chapter 7

“Come on, Lyds.” Jordan pulled the Catfish laptop from Lydia’s lap. “You’ve been staring at this thing for days. You need to get out of this room.” He set the computer down on the bedside table and reached for her hand. “Everybody misses you, you know.”

“I can’t leave yet, Jordan.” She pushed his hand aside. “I haven’t made any progress with the program! My coding must be off. I just…” Lydia hesitated. She was always so used to being the person with all of the answers. Now when it actually mattered, she couldn’t figure it out on her own. “I just can’t figure out where I went wrong.” She tried to retrieve the laptop from the opposite end of the bed but Jordan reached it before she could.

“You’ll get this back when you learn how to have fun again.” Jordan was not going to tell Lydia where he was hiding it. He just took the laptop out of the room and headed down the hall. Somebody among the Catfish crew had to have a safe place to hide that computer from Lydia. It couldn’t be just anybody though. Lydia couldn’t suspect this person. Derek was out of the question. Everybody knew that he and Derek were as close as two people could be. Well, after his relationship with Lydia, of course. Nobody could ever come close to how devoted Lydia and Jordan were to one another.

Jordan kept walking, trying to find a temporary home for the computer when he heard heaps of laughter coming from Dani’s room. He turned to his immediate left and knocked on the door. All noise ceased. That wasn’t suspicious at all.

“Yes?” Dani opened the door just wide enough to poke her head through the opening. It was as if she didn’t want Jordan to see who was in there with her. She was merely an editor of Catfish footage. What did she have to hide?

“Hey Dani!” Jordan tried to smile through his undetermined suspicion. “Uh…” He rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry. Is this a bad time?” He didn’t know what he was walking in on, but it couldn’t really be that bad. Could it?

“What? No.” She laughed it off attempting not to be weird about the way she did. “Why do you ask?” Jordan didn’t say anything, just gestured to the way she was hiding behind the door. Though he couldn’t tell, she was fully clothed. “Right… Um you know I could explain, but I’d rather not.” Not at that moment or otherwise. He could never know.

“What you do on your own time is your own business I guess…” Jordan’s voice trailed off. “Listen, could you hide this for me? From Lydia?”

“”Oh yeah,” she pushed the door wide open, forgetting the reason it was cracked in the first place. “Totally.” Jordan’s eyes grew wide at what was inside the room behind her. And who.

Dani reached for the laptop in Jordan’s hands, securing it in her own, and then heard Derek’s voice shouting “DANI, NO!”

“Derek! What the hale are you guys doing?!” Jordan pushed his way around Dani, receiving a clearer view of the entire Catfish crew gathered for a well-hidden weekly meeting they had always held in either Dani’s or Derek’s rooms. Even Sammy was there. Everybody was huddled around a big television monitor watching footage of Jordan and Lydia. Some of it was footage they shouldn’t have even had. What were they doing, following Lydia and Jordan around unofficially? Derek stayed silent. “Derek! Bro, what is this?” He slowly approached the feed streaming from a computer to the tv monitor.

“Well,” Derek quickly sorted out his options in his head. On one hand, what Jordan didn’t know wouldn’t kill him. He didn’t have to tell the true story, did he? On the other hand, Derek had never lied to Jordan before. Well, aside from all the times he had to tell Jordan he couldn’t hang out because Braeden was making him go with her on bridal excursions or shopping trips or hiking. She was always his excuse of why he couldn’t hang out because he knew Jordan would never approve of the real reason. Also, Jordan would never deny him time with Braeden. She scared him too much to do that. Note to self; do not steal Derek away from Braeden during her time. Derek decided to lie. He looked Jordan in the eye and crossed his arms before speaking again. “The truth is very simple. We’re going over valuable edits we could potentially add to this season’s behind the scenes footage.”

“You’re lying.” Jordan tensed up. “You only look me in the eye when you lie. Truth. Now.”

“Fine!” Derek looked around at his crew. “We get together every week and watch this amazing footage of you and Lydia. It’s a hobby. Sue us.”

“Wow,” Jordan chuckled. “You’re still lying to me, huh? That’s not all there is to it. I can just feel it.” Jordan left with that.

“Bro wait!” Derek ran after Jordan. If you’d only been there, you would have looked onto the scene with the assumption that they were in the process of breaking up. Jordan was confused and just wanted to get away from what he perceived as nothing but deception. Derek was desperate to make his best friend understand without scaring him off. This was a bromergency and Derek couldn’t afford to let Jordan walk away angry at him. “Don’t leave! Join us, you’ll see!”

“I don’t know what to think of… _that_.” Jordan’s hand dramatically gestured to the room they’d just left. “It’s just… weird. And quite frankly, a breach of our right to privacy!”

“Come back. Watch the footage.” Derek threw his arm lazily around Jordan’s shoulders. “The Marrish Express awaits.” He chuckled.

“The **_what_** Express???”

“Marrish…” Derek paused. Was Jordan really ready to hear it? He didn’t know the answer to that question himself, so he tried to tread carefully. “You see, when you put together the names of two people, you get this weird ship name and—“

“Ship? Why are you shipping me with my best friend?” He dropped his head. “This is just so messed up, bro. I’ll see you later.” Jordan sighed and walked away from Derek thinking about how awkward it was walking in on a bunch of his friends watching personal videos of him interacting with his best friend. Lydia would never know about that little detail. Jordan sure wasn’t going to tell her.

“SOMETIMES PEOPLE JUST BELONG TOGETHER!” Derek yelled as Jordan continued walking away. “YOU CAN’T OUTSMART FATE, BRO!”

Jordan just walked right back into his hotel room where Lydia was sprawled across the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“I was starting to think you weren’t coming back.” She laughed with a brief shake of her head. “What took you so long?”

“Uh…” Jordan tried to come up with an answer that didn’t involve him admitting that everybody they knew thought they should be an actual thing. Jordan shuffled his hand through his dark hair. “I ran into Derek. He… was excited about some video he saw.” Technically it wasn’t dishonest. Derek _was_ excited about a video his was watching. He simply didn’t tell her about the subject of the video.

Lydia nodded. Of course she didn’t believe that he was telling her the whole truth, but she didn’t feel like getting into it. She was still thinking about how she would fix her code for the cell tracking program she was supposed to be finishing.

“Hey let’s go out.” _Crap,_ he thought. Now that he knew about Derek’s extracurricular activities, it felt weird saying those three little words to Lydia. Were the others watching them at that very moment? Derek could’ve hidden a camera in the room somewhere nobody would’ve thought to look for it. They could have been editing it into next week’s video at that very moment. _No, no, no._ He couldn’t help thinking such thoughts, but he knew he was just reaching too far of a conclusion. It was all a figment of his newly developed imagination. “Drinks on me?” It was eight o’clock at night and he had just witnessed the last thing he’d ever thought he would watch. The crew was just so happy about the thought of **marrish** , but why? What was so special about a platonic relationship that all your colleagues have to sneak around your back to relish in the pure ecstasy of the idea of it becoming romantic? Jordan couldn’t think about it anymore. He just needed a drink. Lydia saw this written all over his face. That’s why his relief when she agreed that drinks would be nice brought a smile to her own face.

An hour later, Lydia and Jordan were sitting at the bar a couple of streets away from their hotel. She was slowly drinking her third apple martini when she heard Jordan laugh dryly. “Do you believe a person could fall in love without ever realizing it?” He was utterly confused at this point. For an entire hour he’d been contemplating the situation with the footage and how close he and Lydia were. It only made sense that they had some unestablished feelings hidden away from themselves, right? He was starting to wonder just how accurately

“Uh…” She took another sip from her glass. “You know my stance on the whole idea of love. But I don’t know. Maybe.” Lydia thought about what she was saying. “It does sound silly though. I’d like to think somebody would actually know how they felt about a person without it just springing on them out of nowhere.” She giggled. It was a weird thing to think about and Jordan was well on his way to getting drunk. He hadn’t ordered another cosmo in a while, just pondered everything.

“I don’t know what to think anymore. About… love. Or fate. Or… anything.” Jordan groaned. “It all used to be so black and white to me. You fall in love, or you don’t…” His thoughts were scrambled. He couldn’t be in love with his best friend! But what if he was? He could have mistaken the affection in their relationship all this time for platonic adoration when in fact it was so much more. Jordan didn’t know how he could miss such a thing though. “But what if it’s not so simple after all?” Jordan knew Lydia was not open to the idea of a romantic relationship, no matter how small it happened to be. He knew that she didn’t plan to fall in love again. He knew that even if he was in love with her he didn’t stand a chance. Didn’t he owe it to himself and to her, to at least try to hint at what was going through his mind though?

“Jordan?” Lydia set her martini down. “You realize you’re not in love with me, right?” She tried to laugh, but nothing came out. Jordan didn’t say anything either. “Okay, so we do this the hard way then.” Lydia nodded, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do, and turned to face Jordan. “Kiss me.”

“What?” His eyes widened.

“One way or another, I’m going to prove to you that you aren’t actually in love with me. We’re just friends.” She shrugged her shoulders. “What does it matter? This won’t be weird, just… something to add to our best friend resume. March 23rd – the day I proved to Jordan Parrish that he was not in fact romantically drawn to me.” She tried to ease the moment for him. “Assuming I’m right, which obviously I am, you won’t feel anything. Neither will I. It’ll be over in five seconds because there’s absolutely no chemistry between us. I promise.”

“Okay, um…” Jordan turned to the person he had never until this night thought of as anything other than his best friend and slowly leaned in closer to her. “Here goes nothing?” Just before his lips could actually touch Lydia’s he got nervous. If it turned out to be nothing, Lydia would never let him live down his one moment of weakness where he actually let the idea creep into his mind. But… More than that, he would turn the event into a bigger deal than it actually was. He would never let himself live it down because he would think he made things awkward between them while Lydia wouldn’t think so.

“Are you sure, Lydia?” Jordan whispered onto her lips. She nodded slowly. His proximity suddenly became real for her. She was actually about to kiss her best friend. Lydia reminded herself that it was only one kiss and it wouldn’t mean anything. When Jordan failed to close the remainder of the gap between their lips, Lydia did it for him.

Her lips gently collided with his. That was hardly the shock of her night though, unlike when she granted him entry and realized she actually liked kissing her best friend. That kind of scared her. Jordan’s tongue danced around Lydia’s and her hands travelled up his chest, stopping only when they met at the back of his neck with nowhere else to go. Her heart was pounding. What was she doing? She couldn’t be enjoying kissing a guy so much, especially not when this person was her best friend. She had to pull away.

“S-see? Nothing.” She sighed. It felt more like she was simply taking a breath because when Jordan took her by surprise and continued to kiss her she didn’t object. She let it happen. She let herself enjoy it more than she previously had. Suddenly it wasn’t just a kiss anymore, but they were completely making out and Lydia couldn’t stop herself. She lost her will to fight it and let her friend consume her. Lydia continued to lean into Jordan’s kiss until she heard a familiar voice.

“Daaaaaamn, Lydia.” Braeden laughed. “Get it!” Lydia and Jordan pulled away from each other quickly. She turned to Braeden, avoiding making eye contact with Jordan.

“What are you doing here?” Lydia’s gaze widened on Derek’s fiancée. “You’re supposed to be… with Derek… Somewhere. Date night, right?”

“Eh, date night’s postponed. He might’ve told me where you guys would be,” Braeden beamed. “Figured I’d surprise you… SURPRISE!” She threw her hands in the air with an excitement Lydia had only ever seen when motorcycle shopping or trying a new flavor of wedding cake. “Also… I’m designated driver if you guys are ready to hit the bedr—“

“BRAE!” Lydia buried her head in her hands. All Jordan did was chuckle. He knew where Lydia stood before kissing her, but he had a hard time believing it was that simple anymore. They both had a lot to think about. For the moment they just settled for accepting that ride from Braeden.”

When they were back in their hotel room and ready for bed, it felt… different. Jordan didn’t know whether to put his arm around Lydia, who seemed further away than ever before. She was just staring up into the darkness, confused about her feelings. For the last seven years she was strongly anti-love. Anti-romance. Anti-anything that might make her want that sense of affection she’d given up years ago. How could she not have known she was also supposed to be anti-Jordan Parrish? She wanted so much to block him out. But she also craved his touch. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore, and it was all because of Jordan’s question. Lydia finally rested her head on Jordan’s chest replaying the question in her mind and wondered how they took so long to realize there might actually be more to their relationship than simply friendship. _Could I really have fallen in love with my best friend without ever realizing it?_ Jordan slowly gained the courage to wrap his arm around his—he didn’t know what to refer to her as—and despite his attempts, failed to sleep that night.


End file.
